When Worlds Collide
by invisible0one
Summary: Amity Park has always been a town full of inventors and the brightest of the bright, it's really no wonder that it's greatest minds were able to create a weak, but working, shield fifty years into the war when the Avatar was still nowhere to be found. But, one explosion is really all it takes to throw one into an unknown world.
1. Prologue

_Yet another one of those stories that I have absolutely no idea from where it came..._

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**_Prologue_**

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Amity Park had been separated from the rest of the world since the beginning of the war. A shield went up nearly half a centry ago when it was still in it's most primitive stages. The shield hadn't been very strong, but it had kept the brunt of the war away from the quickly developing city. Over time, it was improved and not many people have questioned it, the shield served as a marker of safety.

The few that had ventured to the edge of the shield and looked beyond had come back with stories of our small city being both advanced and primitive compared to the outside world. We supposedly had technology the outside world couldn't even dream of, yet we were behind in other, more magical skills. I wasn't sure what exactly we were lacking.

Well, I wasn't until the shield broke down.

It was a year after the invention of the Fenton Portal and the accident that gave me my powers. Everything seemed to be going fine, the ghosts were no worse than usual. I was even actually managing to get my grades up to middle of the road C's rather than the D's I was constantly achieving when ghost fighting first became a part of my life. My parents were still far enough in the dark I didn't have to worry about not being accepted, yet they knew just enough to be a little more forgiving on my curfew. Lancer had finally stopped bothering to try and figure out what was going on in my life and Sam and Tucker had yet to run off on me. To top it all off, I was finally starting to work up the courage to tell Sam how I felt about her. Everything seemed to be my level of normal for once.

Then there was the lab explosion.

Mom and dad were working on updating the shield's software or something along those lines, when there was a power malfunction. One single spark left the cords in which it was supposed to be contained. It seemed to skip across the table in what was really one smooth flight as it finally landed in the highly explosive samples my dad had yet to put up.

A huge blast filled the room as that tiny little spark met the explosive compounds and sent my life tumbling downwards once again. Mom and Tucker were on the other side of the lab, I couldn't save them. Sam, Jazz, and dad were all in the immediate area though and I threw up a protective shield around them on instinct when I saw where that damned spark was headed.

My shield kept the people within it safe, but there was nothing left to recover of mom and Tucker.

Mom always did joke that dad's carelessness would be the death of her. I'm sure she hadn't meant it to be so literal.

My world fell apart just as my house blew up into a million different pieces, just as I lost two people close to me and just as the shield keeping Amity park from the outside world finally fell.

As it hit dad and Jazz exactly what had happened, they both fell to the ground, sobbing despite the usual Fenton ability to keep tears on the inside. Sam had a few tears rolling down her face, though she managed to keep herself upright. I'm pretty sure I was crying like a baby as well. The debris hadn't even finished falling, and we had all completely broken down.

Only the alarms indicating that the shield was down slowly brought us all out of our trance. Our safety net was gone, we really had no knowledge of any culture from the outside world. For years, we'd been a self-sufficient civilization with no need for trade with the Earth's other inhabitants.

I knew only one thing at this time.

All hell was about to break loose.

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_...I am on quite the writing rampage today..._

_I fully intend on carrying on with this. Until I complete one of my other stories, it will not have a concrete update schedule though. It'll be more of a 'update when I get the chance' thing until I one of my other stories is finished and I can move this to that update schedule._

_Comments and feedback are welcome as always! :D_

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_Invisible One_


	2. A Broken World

_**A Broken World**_

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A mushroom shaped cloud came into existence just over the horizon. Where ever it was, it wasn't marked on any map, we could only guess it was a part of the unknown. Most people ignored it, deeming it unnecessary for human development, but as I saw the cloud of smoke and debris fill the air, I was drawn to it. Sokka would later deem it one of my 'weird Avatar things' that made unconsciously change our course to head towards the section of the world that was ignored by almost every person on the planet.

A town of some sort came into view as we flew, but the building were unlike anything we were used to. Nearly everything was decimated, and what wasn't was filled with only the dead and those breathing their last breaths. What ever had happened here, it had been detrimental, there was no fixing this.

As we approached what seemed like the epicenter of this disaster, I saw a green dome surrounding something. Seconds later, it fell and revealed four people who were miraculously still alive, dressed in quite an odd sense, but alive nonetheless. Two of them, father and daughter by the looks of it, had fallen to the ground in there tears of sorrow. A third was looking to the sky almost praying for this to all be some horrid dream while the final person's hands were slowly falling from a defensive state as he too broke down in tears.

I landed Appa just a little ways off, far enough not to startle these strange people, but close enough to make a run for it if this was some sort of sick trap. As I approached, they were all still trapped to the memories of the town and people they'd lost.

"Are you okay?" The boy who had held his hand up as though defending the others took only a minute before settling into a strength that had not been there before. His shoulder squared and he looked ready to fight, even if he'd been crying only moments before. He was used to fighting and being the strong one when no one else was there to take up the slack.

"What do you think?" His response was cold, like he was trying to use it to hide the sorrow in his eyes.

The girl in all black recovered next, but try as she might to hide her emotions, they were still as clear as day to anyone looking on. "Danny, calm down. They didn't do anything." Danny? What an odd name. She placed a hand on his shoulder, as if she knew nothing good would come of him losing control. Perhaps he was a powerful bender with little control once emotion took over.

"Really? Well something caused that damned explosion! Isn't it such a coincidence that they showed up so soon after?" I could see it in his eyes that he knew this wasn't true, he just needed something to blame this on.

"It's not their fault, little brother. It's no one's fault." The red headed girl had come out of her own little world now. I found this odd, the younger ones were coming back to their senses before the adult when it really ought to be the other way around. Had these three teenagers already been through things the adult had yet to even imagine?

The boy, Danny, turned to face the two young girls behind him. "I know, Jazz. I just can't believe this happened, all these people, all the people that I've spent the past year protecting, are dead." Another odd name, it was clear that these people had been separated from the rest of the world for quite some time now. "I could have saved them, Jazz! I could have saved them, damn it! If I had just thought of them before my own survival, I could have saved them!" He was shaking, though whether from anger, sorrow, or a combination of the two, I will never know.

"Danny, we both know that even you couldn't have contained that blast." The girl in black was speaking again. "You did what you could, we're still alive because of you." She was fighting to calm him down while keeping herself level headed.

I felt the vibrations in the earth as my three companions started to move forward. "Don't." I said quietly, I knew what these people needed right now. "Let them acknowledge us first. They need some time to think right now." I saw the nod of Katara as she was now next to me and could only assume I'd gotten the same response from the other two as they didn't make a move to advance any farther.

The older man, who I assumed was the father of Danny and Jazz had finally stopped shedding his tears of sorrow and just stared blankly at the world around him before entrapping both of his kids and the black clad girl in a hug that probably took the wind out of all of them. I saw more tears run down his face as he closed his eyes and held on to the youths for dear life.

He released them and Jazz turned to us. "Who are you?" Her eyes were still red and puffy, but there was no fault to be found in that, I was still shocked that they had been able to recover so quickly even if it looked as though the slightest thing could send them back over the edge.

I answered as simply as I could. "I'm Aang." I pointed to each of my companions as I introduced them as well. "That's Katara, Sokka, and Toph." I didn't bother to hide our real names, my gut was telling me that these were good people, that I could trust them.

Sokka moved forward just a little. "We're Team Avatar." I could tell he was trying to lighten the mood in his own way.

Jazz nodded, and for half a second, I saw half a smile cross her features. "I guess you could say we're Team Phantom, then."

Danny spoke up from behind her, slowly creeping forward. "Why you insist on giving us a team name, I will never know Jazz." He was teasing her, desperately hanging on to what little happiness Sokka and Jazz had managed to conjure up.

"At least she's not calling us the 'Ghost Getters' anymore." The girl I had yet to identify remarked.

Danny let a half smile cross his features for a second before it left and he introduced himself more formally, then moved to the others in his group. "I'm Danny. That's the know-it-all sister, Jazz, Sam and my dad, Jack." Jack had finally composed himself enough to join the group.

"Why are you Team Phantom? You're not working with that no good spook, are you?" Danny visibly cringed at that, though his father didn't seem to notice.

"He's not evil, dad. And it's nothing to concerns you." I couldn't tell if it was guilt or fear the crossed his features and flashed in his eyes as he said that. Whatever the reasoning, Jack wasn't supposed to know about it.

"Danny, he's going to find out soon enough. That stunt you pulled isn't exactly easy to ignore." Jazz was giving her brother an odd look, it seemed to me that Jack was the only one out of the loop with whatever these three kids were doing.

"I know Jazz. I'll tell him later, just not now. Not after everything that's happened." Jack just stood in the background, listening and deciding to let his son keep whatever secret he had for the time being.

Toph appeared beside me. "Something's off with that Danny kid. I can feel his vibrations, but their muted, he's not normal." She was speaking so quietly, only I should have hear it, but I saw Danny look towards us, a slightly worried look on his face.

I looked to Danny, about to question him for our own safety when blue mist escaped his mouth. A blue, floating, figure appeared not to long after. Danny's face became very quickly annoyed.

"Beware! For I am the Box Ghost!" Something danced around Danny's hands, was that some sort of green fire? Was he a fire-bender?

His voice was deathly cold as he spoke. "You have either two options, Box Ghost. Either you can leave me the hell alone, or I can beat the absolute shit out of you."

"Foolish child! The Box Ghost does not surrender!" I had only been around this...thing for about two minutes, and I could tell he nothing more than an annoying idiot.

"Beat the shit out of you it is then." I swear his eyes flashed green before a shocked look crossed his face as a blue light encompassed the Box Ghost. Sam was holding something, I couldn't tell what it was though. "Am I not allowed a little misplaced aggression now?" Danny was peeved, but I could tell he was struggling to really stay mad at the girl.

"No, because we both know you would have beaten him out of existence all together with the state you're in right now." She smirked. It was almost as though this was something they were used to, something they could hang on to even though nothing they knew was still intact.

"Would have done both worlds a lot of good too!" He shot back.

"We both know you'd miss having him as an easy fight." Sam was just as good at this banter as Danny was, maybe even better.

At this point, Sokka could not contain himself any longer. "What the hell was that?!"

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_So...I really should have been working on an expository essay...then this chapter jumped into my head and refused to leave...that and it was much more entertaining..._

_Comments and feedback are welcome as always! :D_

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_Invisible One_


	3. Benders

**_Benders_**

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There was an outburst from one of the various newcomers. By their clothing and names, I could only guess they came from the world Amity Park had been separated from for so long. I wasn't in any mood to mess around in a joking manner, so I answered the question as briefly as I could.

"That was a ghost. An idiot of one, but a ghost none the less." I shrugged as they just gawked at me, I guess what was normal to me was something way out of the ordinary for them.

The youngest boy, Aang I think, spoke up. "Do you want to camp with us for the night?"

I looked to the others, letting them decide on this. Sam nodded. "There's not much left here now." There was a sadness in her voice that she was trying her damnedest to hide, but I still saw it clear as day.

There was a smile on Aang's face. "Follow us then!" He was an odd one, he gave off the wisdom of an old man, yet he held a childlike persona that matched his age perfectly.

Sokka came up beside him. "You do realize Zuko's going to throw a fit over the new comers, right?"

The girl spoke up, using a tone that could only be exchanged between brother and sister. "You sure you're not the one throwing a fit, Sokka?" I laughed at their antics right along side Aang and Toph.

I was still trying to figure out how Toph got around as we approached the campsite. She didn't wear any shoes and her eyes looked as if she were blind, and yet she was the one leading the others back to camp with ease.

My thought process on that was abruptly stopped when our group arrived. Suffice it to say I was shocked to see a huge, six-legged animal...thing sprawled out on a patch of grass near a river I hadn't even known existed. Leaning against it's side, was a boy with a large red scar running across half his face.

As soon as he saw us, he leapt up, his dual swords going up in defensive positions on reflex. "Who the hell are they?" Right, so this guy had a temper on him. Note to self: Do not piss the scar guy off.

"Calm down, dunce. They're friends." Toph spoke up, and as she did so, she moved her hands ever so slightly and I could have sworn I saw some of the ground under the scar guy move.

"You said you were going to see what happened, not take in random people!" Sokka wasn't kidding when he said this guy might throw a fit.

"They're the only survivors, Zuko! Give it a rest." Katara sent him a reprimanding glare and he returned his blades to their sheaths, though he was still eyeing all of us with caution.

Jazz stepped forward and outstretched a hand. "I'm Jazz." Zuko mumbled something even my enhanced hearing couldn't quite catch before shaking her hand. We moved around, repeating the introductions, just as we had before. This new guy wasn't very trusting of us, I could only guess it was due to his past.

The next time Zuko actually spoke, he hardly even acknowledged us. "Are they benders?" What the hell does that mean?

And as if on the same wavelength (and really, they probably were by now) Sam, Jazz, and dad all asked my mental question in unison.

Sokka gave us all a dumb look. "You're kidding, right? You don't know what a bender is?" He laughed, what the hell was so funny about this? "Alright, jokes up, who are you guys, really?"

"You think we're joking? Our whole town just blew up, and you think we're fucking joking?" Sam's outburst was slightly out of character for her, but I couldn't really blame her with everything that had happened within the past two hours alone. She was the most alone of us all. Mom might be gone, but at least I still had Jazz and dad. Sam had no one, not even her pain in the ass parents. I placed a hand on her shoulder, just as she had done for me earlier and Sam relaxed almost instantly, quickly reigning in her emotions and getting herself back under control.

"How could you not know what a bender is?" Aang was thoroughly confused by our lack of knowledge. Apparently, where we were well above everyone else with advances in technology and other dimensions, we were severely lacking in things the rest of the world though trivial.

We all shook our heads. "Really?"

"For the third time, no we don't have a clue as to what the hell a bender is. Would someone care to fill us in?" My temper was running a little shorter than usual and I kept having to reel my self back in and keep my powers in check. I couldn't afford to completely lose my head with this.

"They aren't lying." Toph chimed in from the back. She was still a mystery; I still didn't have a clue as to how she got around so easily, much less how she knew we weren't lying.

"You sure? I wouldn't put it past the Fire Nation to pull a stunt like this." Zuko's gaze on us only hardened as Sokka spoke.

"I'm sure, Sokka." Toph spoke simply, her tone almost reprimanding Sokka for even daring to challenge her.

"Are we ever going to know what a bender is, or not?" My patience was wearing thin. I may have been the most together after everything that had happened, but that didn't mean it had no effect on me.

They all looked to one another before Aang answered, once more emitting wisdom that was far beyond his age. "A bender is someone with a special connection to one of the four elements: water, earth, fire, and air. Their affinity to the element lets the control it to an extent, but each bender is connected to only one element." He paused, trying to ensure that we were following. I vaguely remembered old stories and legends about this stuff. "I'm the last of the air nomads, but the rest of the nations are still around. Sokka and Katara are from the water tribes, but only Katara is a bender."

Sokka made some comments about 'water magic', cutting Aang off for only a second before he continued. "Toph comes from the Earth Kingdom and Zuko is from the Fire Nation." As he finished, something in my head finally clicked. Sokka had called them Team Avatar, so who was the avatar?

"Which one of you is the avatar then?" One of them had to be it. They had named themselves Team Avatar much the same way we were Team Phantom. If I was Phantom, then where was the Avatar?

"That's me. The others are here to train me." Aang gave his friends a smile.

"Yeah, we're here to train you, not some random refugees." Zuko was back on the offensive, he really didn't take well to new comers.

"You are really starting to piss me off!" Sam had lashed out again, this time moving to as if to punch Zuko, but he dodged. That wasn't really the important part though. What really caught my attention was the mid-sized rock that had flown in the same direction of her fist. "What the hell?!"

Toph had crossed her arms, an unidentifiable smirk on her face. "Looks like we have another earth bender in out midst."

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_There is only one thing I regret about starting this story...now it won't leave me alone... I'm spending my lunches doing homework just so I can come home and work on it! O_O_

_Comments and feedback are welcome as always! :D_

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_Invisible One_


	4. Secrets of the Past

_I'm not sure whether it was meant to be a challenge or not, but one was issued nonetheless. This should make the cultural differences a little more realistic…_

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**_Secrets of the Past_**

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I watched as all the kids sat around the small fire one of the boys had made out of thin air. It amazed me how fast the three that I had known for years were able to recover from something so traumatic. I knew Danny and his friends had been doing something out of the ordinary for months now, I just didn't know what. Now, I saw that what ever it was, it had certainly exposed them to things no child should have to live through.

My mind started to drift off to the days of my own childhood as we began to settle down for the night. These were memories I hadn't touched in years, mainly because up until now, no good could come from reliving them.

Maddie and I were always so intent on going back to the Ghost Zone because we had grown up there for the most part, we each spent a little over twenty-five years there before the same thing that had dragged us into the Ghost Zone dragged us right back out.

No one ever really knew exactly what had happened, but ages ago, something had brought the whole of the primitive Amity Park into the ghost dimension. My best theory is that there was a massive influx of spectral energy that surrounded the town, but I'll probably never know because I wasn't alive for the actual event.

Five hundred years, the town spent five hundred years trapped in the Ghost Zone. Needless to say, the ghosts were never particularly happy to have us there, not when I was a kid nor back in the times that the few historical documents of our town mentioned. Amity Park was haunted because of that, even when we finally escaped it was considered pay back by the specters.

Ghost technology was developed first out of necessity, the rest of it fell into place as we became fully capable of defending ourselves. My old history classes said agricultural technology came next, followed by luxury as the town gave in to being stuck in the Ghost Zone.

When I was twenty-five, Jazz as an infant and Danny on the way, we finally returned to the realm of the living.

There was just one problem. The city had disappeared fifty years into the war and reappeared right around the 85 year mark. While we'd gone through generations of inventors and innovation, the rest of the world was still trapped in it's early days.

It was a general consensus to keep our time in the Ghost Zone a secret from the outside world, but it quickly became more than that. A few families tried to tell stories of their younger years and the Ghost Zone to their kids that didn't live in that time.

All of them just disappeared one day.

No one knew what had happened to them, all we knew was that they had tried to explain their time in the Ghost Zone to their kids and then just disappeared. No one was willing to risk finding out what had happened.

Here we were today, the younger generation without a clue as to what happened. Cultural development was never taught in schools and the history they started to teach was shady at best. Empathsis was put on science to encourage our development more and discourage those bright enough to realize something wasn't quite right. The officials didn't want everyone thinking we were just a town of crazies if they ever stopped ignoring us. The easiest way to keep outsiders from knowing? Just act like it never even happened.

We put the shield up as soon as we could to keep spectral beings from invading the rest of the world when they came with us back to the realm of the living. The side effect of it was that bending powers were practically cut off. You'd occasionally see signs of an element trying to be reached with in a person, such as Sam's love of nature gave perfect sense to her earth-bending.

Now, there's just the four of us and the kids are about to see just how different our world was from the rest. At least now I can tell them the truth if I wanted to. They were finally going to learn about the bending they probably had in their blood, though which element each one had was beyond me. I honestly didn't know what element I was myself as the Ghost Zone and bending don't get along very well.

I sat back against the (what had Aang called it, a flying bison?) large animal that more or less provided at least some relief from the wind and began to wonder which elements each of us would find our connection to as Toph and Aang were already starting to teach Sam the basics of earth-bending.

There had always been such a blend of bloods in Amity park, enough so that Aang may not really be the last air-bender. It was a slim chance, but it was there.

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_So...does that help to make up for the culture differences?_

_Comments and feedback are welcome as always! :D_

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_Invisible One_


	5. When the Fire Nation Attacks

_**When the Fire Nation Attacks**_

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To me, I looked like Sam was a fast learner, and Toph looked happy with her progress after just one day, so maybe she was. I don't know if it just came easily to her or if ghost fighting with me had forced her to become a fast learner. If you couldn't catch up with a ghost's new attacks, you were screwed and they would gain the advantage.

Aang and Katara kept an eye on the rest of us, though I think it was more to be sure of our mental stability and to look for signs of any elemental affinities, whereas Zuko was just watching us and looking for any given reason not to trust us. He was going to have one whole hell of a fit when he found out I was half-ghost. I didn't know when it was going to happen, but something in the back of my mind kept nagging at me that my secret was going to come out into the open soon and there was nothing I could do about it.

I really had planned on keeping my secret for as long as possible, but it helps when one isn't suddenly attack by a group of fire-benders.

Toph's head snapped up mid-way through Sam's next lesson. "Someone's coming, and a lot by the feel of it!" All of the benders, minus Sam and plus Sokka were in a battle stance, ready to face the attack.

"Aang, how far is Appa?" Katara called to her left, addressing the boy.

"Too far to make a run for it, I'm sure."

"I don't know if we're going to be able to take on this many, guys." Toph called out. I was still trying to figure out how the hell she could see much less how she knew people were coming.

Sam heard this and looked to me, and Jazz. There was a silent nod before we stepped up beside them, me and Sam with our fists raised and Jazz brandishing one of two surviving ecto-guns. (Well, one of two if you didn't count the ones dad was sure to have stashed away.)

Aang gave me a weird look. "Do you need a little backup?" He looked confused as I spoke, but nodded anyway.

"You're joking, right?" Toph declared as the sounds of rapidly snapping twigs finally made it within my hearing range. "They don't know how to bend, and even Sam only has the basics!"

I smirked, I think everyone from Team Phantom did. "True, but there is no way in hell that this is our first fight." I looked back to find a thoroughly confused look on dad's face. Poor dad, he was completely lost here.

"You've fought fire-benders before?" Sokka's eyebrows went up as he said this before he looked straight ahead again as a sound was finally close enough to reach human ears.

"No, but unless they have the powers of flight, invisibility, and intangibility, they'll be nothing compared to what we're used to." Sam retorted as she solidified her stance.

"Besides, I could use some misplaced aggression." Sam just shook her head as I said that.

"Just don't go too far, little brother." Jazz got in that final comment before the benders were within our sights and the fight began.

Naturally, they went for us newbies first, under the assumption that we were the weakest and easiest targets to take out.

They were in for one hell of a surprise.

They went for Sam first and she pulled off earth-bending moves I hadn't even seen Toph teach her. I think she was acting on instinct, something all of us had learned while ghost fighting.

Jazz stepped up beside her, blasting at the benders Sam had yet to take care of while I filled in behind them, aiming for whoever was just outside the limited range of Jazz's gun with my own shots of ecto-energy.

Team Avatar threw a rock here and there, but for the most part, they just stood back and watched. Dad's jaw went slack within seconds of when we started.

Ten minutes later, every last fire-bender had either fled or was on the ground, unconscious. "Geeze, Danny. Think you could have been any easier on them?" Sam laced her voice with sarcasm.

"Hey! You know as well as I do none of them would have escaped if I really wanted to hurt them!"

"I know, but still." She smirked at me, poking fun just because she could.

"It's not my fault the ghosts are more resilient!" I retorted back before we both burst out laughing.

"What, I don't get any recognition over here?" Jazz asked in a playful tone, so I responded in an equal tone.

"Well… You managed not to hit me for once." I smirked and she firmly smacked me upside the head.

"Oops. Guess I did now." She stuck her tongue out at me, breaking free of the mature mindset she usually kept up.

Toph cut in, turning to Sam. "You don't know how to earth-bend, huh?" She gave Sam a look which was shrugged off. "I know I sure as hell didn't teach you half of those moves yet." Toph continued

Sam shrugged once more before speaking. "The earth-bending moves are close enough to my normal fighting style they just came naturally. I was just going off instinct I guess."

"And how do we know you're not lying?" Zuko called out. Then he turned to me. "And you! What the hell you were shooting out of your hands, I don't know, but that sure as hell didn't look like something a non-bender could do!"

"It's called ecto-energy. It's not bending, it's a side effect of a portal accident I got myself into about a year ago."

Zuko looked like he was about to object, but Toph cut him off. "They aren't lying, Zuko."

"How do you know? They obviously have more up their sleeves than they let on!" It was apparently Sokka's turn to be overly cautious. "For all you know, she could be controlling the vibrations so you don't feel anything!"

"You do realize we're right here, right?" Sam cut in, seriously wanting this whole thing to be over and done with.

Toph ignored Sam for the moment, focusing on Sokka instead. "Sokka, even I can't do that and my ability to function is dependent on those vibrations. Besides, it's not like she pulled off anything too advanced, they were just a little farther along than I'd gotten around to teaching her."

"But what if-"

"Shut it, dunce." Sokka did not look all to happy, but he didn't even try to object. Instead opting to just stay quiet.

Dad spoke up, I really should have known this was coming. "Now that that's over with. Danny, why didn't you tell us you could shoot energy beams from your hands at will after the accident?"

My hand met the back of my neck in the usual form that it had started doing whenever I got nervous years ago. "Because there's more to it than that, dad." I cut off there, I really didn't want to be telling him about this right now.

"What more is there, Danny?" He had bent over just a little bit so that he was eye level with me.

"Can I tell you later?" I really didn't think that would fly with him, but it was worth a shot.

Thankfully, Jazz came up to us at that moment. "He'll tell you when he's ready, dad." She turned to me. "And that will be soon. Right, Danny." Damn. She'd managed to mimic mom's threatening tone of voice perfectly.

"Fine," I grumbled in response. I really wasn't going to be getting out of this now.

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_Comments and feedback are welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	6. Ghost Boy

_**Ghost Boy**_

* * *

"We need to get moving. We can't afford to stay here another day." Zuko spoke abruptly amidst the comfortable silence that had fallen over our group.

"We know Zuko." Katara replied, a slight hint of agitation in her voice.

"Then why are we moving already?" I had already found that this guy not only have a temper on him, but that he also lacked this magic thing called patience.

"Because Appa can't carry everyone and we can't leave them here!" Toph shot back. It was nice to know that they didn't intend on leaving us here, even if they didn't know how the hell there were going to bring us along.

"Why don't we leave them? There's not enough room on Appa and none of them can even bend." What was this guy's problem?

Suddenly, Zuko found himself trapped inside a small pyramid of rock. "Care to revise that last statement?" Toph smirked in the background as Sam trapped Zuko for his careless comment. I think he was the only one of our new friends that had yet to figure out that one does not simply mess with Sam.

"Fine! The girl can bend," Insert scowl from Sam here, "but that doesn't magically let Appa carry more people."

"I'll fly, that should help." Aang spoke up as he was also trying to find a solution for this.

"Aang, I hate to let Zuko have his SELFISH point, but I don't think that will be enough. We'd need at least one more person to fly themselves and considering we've yet to see any sign of one of them being an air-bender, we may not have a choice." Katara was partially on Zuko's side with this, but at least she had the consideration to put at least a little sympathy in her voice.

I sighed before I finally spoke. "I can fly myself." My dad and Team Avatar looked at me with bewildered expressions on their faces. Sam, Jazz, and Tucker were also surprised, but it was only because they knew I was about to let my secret out of the bag. I hadn't planned to, but I wasn't sure we could survive on our own in this new world and if I needed to reveal my ghost half to keep us from being left behind, I'd do it.

"What are you talking about, Danny?" I turned to my dad.

"I'll tell you in a minute. Can you just give Jazz all your hidden ghost weapons first, please?" I wasn't afraid of him accepting me, I was just afraid that a year's worth of hunting me would cause him to shoot before he could really think. Dad gave me a weird look, but he gave in. He probably figured that if it was the only way for me to tell him what had been going on with me for the past year, then it was a small price to pay.

Sam came up to me as Jazz collected more ghost weapons than I thought possible. I seriously did not want to know where dad crammed half that stuff. "You sure about this, Danny?"

"I don't have much of a choice. We can't survive out here alone." I would have kept going, but dad had finished emptying out his small stash of ghost gear and was looking at me expectantly.

I sighed once more. "Please don't be mad at me for not telling you this, but that portal accident did more than leave a little ectoplasm running around my system. It made me half-ghost." I let my rings start to travel across my body as I continued. "Dad, I'm Danny Phantom."

Needless to say, dad was shocked and was having a terribly hard time forming words. It was actually Toph that spoke first.

"What'd I tell you Aang? He's not normal." Aang sent her a glare even though I doubted she could tell. Then again, that girl did some amazing things with just her earth-bending.

Several minutes passed with dad just staring in shock, I had kinda hoped it wouldn't take this long to wrap his mind around it.

"You know, the sad part is it wasn't really that hard to figure out." Dad spoke softly, still trying to get his mind to accept this as even being possible. "We were the local ghost experts and we failed to realize you were half-ghost." He froze as the thing I feared most made its way into his mind. "We...we hunted you."

I stepped in before he could take on more guilt than he was responsible for. "Dad, it's not your fault, I don't blame you or mom for it."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want you guys in the line of fire." It as only half of the truth, but I couldn't tell him I was scared of not being accepted, not with the guilt he was already feeling.

There was a silence for a few more minutes before Sokka spoke up. "Okay, now that we all know of yet another person with magic-"

I cut him off. "Ghost powers. They're ghost powers, not magic."

"Whatever, can we get moving? I'd rather not have another run in with the fire benders." Sokka was shot looks from both his sister and Aang before we all started moving.

Team Avatar jumped up on the massive animal without a second's hesitation as Aang pulled his staff out. "Well, you guys coming or not?" Dad and Jazz moved to board Appa shortly after that, but Sam stayed behind.

She looked to me and blushed just a little. "I'd feel safer flying with you, if that's okay." She was having a hard time looking me in the eye and I was having a hard time keeping my face from heating up.

"Yeah, I'll fly you."

"Lovebirds." Sokka called out.

"We're not lovebirds!" Great, we already had another Tucker.

* * *

_Yay for fluff! :D_

_Comments and feedback are welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	7. A Ghost's Core

_**A Ghost's Core**_

* * *

We took to the air, Aang flying himself with bending, Sam in my arms and everyone else on the huge flying bison. I still didn't have a clue what the hell these guys were running from, but it couldn't be any worse than what I had already faced. There really isn't a whole lot that can beat an angry ghost king and an evil alternate version of yourself.

I don't have a clue how long we were up in the air, all I knew was that it was at least half of my top speed and there were several times a sudden change in air current would cause Aang to lose control for a second and run into me and Sam. We near wound up kissing at least two of those times, but Sokka was hell bent on making a comment before it could happen. Why the hell did people always call us lovebirds? We weren't dating and while I'll timidly admit to my own feelings within the safety of my own mind, there was nothing to say that Sam held the same feelings for me as I did for her.

My dad kept eyeing me the whole time we were flying, undoubtedly still trying to wrap his mind around the idea of me being half-ghost. Jazz tried to talk to him about it a few times, but he just shrugged her off either saying he'd rather talk to me about it or just not talk about it at all. I didn't blame him, though I knew there would be one hell of a lot more questions to answer when we landed again.

Aang suddenly flew back from his place a little ahead of us with a worried look on his face. "There's Fire Nation ships up ahead."

"Shit, and we have no cloud cover. Is there anyway we can avoid them?" Sokka was looking over his maps, trying to answer his own question.

"We can't avoid them without adding at least a week on to our trip. We don't have that kind of time." Even as she said this, Katara was still looking for another way out.

"So we fight if they try to attack, it's nothing we haven't done before." Zuko was already making his way to the edge of the saddle, ready to fight.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm useless in the air. And how do you intend on hitting their tiny bodies from up here?" Toph remarked as she knocked Zuko upside the head rather harshly.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do? Just let them fire at us and knock us out of the sky?"

Toph was a about to make some new smart ass remark when I decided I needed to cut in. I didn't know just how dangerous these Fire Nation people were, but I could hide us from them. "Uh, guys. You are traveling with a half-ghost here."

"What good is that going to do us?" Sokka looked at me as if I had just lost my mind and then some.

I looked at the girl that had been hanging on to me the whole flight. "I need you to sit on Appa for a minute, okay Sam?" She nodded and I set her down. I needed to duplicate in order to turn both Appa and his riders along with myself and Sam invisible.

I still wasn't doing too well with the duplication thing, but I actually managed it after a minute or so, and while in midair! I picked Sam back while the other clone put a hand on Appa. "This is how it's going to do you some good." I made Sam and I disappear from sight all together.

"Get it now?" I heard my clone ask. It still felt weird to know I had commanded that voice, but it wasn't coming from me. "Aang, get on Appa." The air bender did as he was told and my clone turned my travel companions invisible.

"Ghost powers, gotta love 'em." I remarked as Sokka deemed it a safe enough distance away from the ships for us to return to the visible spectrum.

An hour later we finally sat down for the night and when I changed back my exhaustion increased tenfold and the hunger I'd been ignoring returned with a vengeance.

"Dude, why are you eating so much?" The water tribe boy had been staring at me for at least ten minutes as I easily consumed nearly double what everyone else ate.

"Well, let's see here. I flew god only knows how many miles today on my own power with a passenger, I managed to duplicate myself in mid-air despite the poor results of that trick in training, and I kept everyone here invisible for at least a half hour. I'm hungry as hell and need food." Yeah, it's safe to say I was tired and not in a good mood.

"No need to get all bitchy on us. He was just asking." Toph was off to the side and had I not learned how she worked, I would have been surprised she was even actually paying any attention.

The camp talk went into idle chatter about each of our respective worlds. We told them about our ghost hunting (and informed dad of the few things he had to ask of us) and they told us about the benders, the nations, and the years of war the world had been at. It amazed me how different our worlds were, but something didn't quite add up. I knew we had always been a little ahead, even before we got cut off from the world, but could we really have been that far ahead? I had never had the opportunity to even try history and culture studies (not that I would have bothered with them before now anyway) but something just felt wrong about the whole story being told by my dad. Even he seemed a little unsure about what to say about the years he had supposedly lived through.

My musing were interrupted by a sudden green growth with a familiar ghostly hue.

"Great. So there are natural portals out here too. Just fucking lovely." I was so not in the mood to deal with this right now. I just wanted to sleep, but the unannounced visit from Undergrowth was not going to let that happen anytime soon.

I spoke up louder, actually talking to the ghost rather than just mumbling to myself. "I thought we've already been over this. You try anything, I just freeze your sorry ass and send you back to the ghost zone." My rings had appeared mid sentence and my ghost half was now dominant.

Of course, the plant thing didn't really listen and make his advances. I took care of him easily with my (now full under control) ice powers, but I was surprised when I heard Katara yell out from behind me.

"You're a water bender!" Wow...excited much.

"Actually, I just have an icy ghostly core." at least, that's what I had always assumed it was. Frostbite had made it seem like that was the case, but with everything else going on lately, I wouldn't put it past him to be wrong.

"Danny, that's impossible." Whoa. Wait, what? Since when does dad know anything about bending? "A ghost's core comes from the element they bent in real life. Your powers just gave yo uaccess to your bending when the rest of us had abandoned it."

"How do you know this? No one ever talked about bending back home." Jazz had spoken up, showing that she found something to be a little far fetched about the story as a whole.

"Because I wasn't born on Earth." Dad paused. "I was born in the Ghost Zone."

What. The. Hell.

* * *

_Comments and feeback are welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	8. Lost in the Past

_**Chapter 8: Lost in the Past**_

* * *

"Don't look at me like that. I may have been born in the Ghost Zone, but that doesn't mean I'm a ghost myself. There's just a lot about the real history of Amity Park you never knew." He did realize just how crazy that sounded, right? "Don't tell me you honestly believe we could get that far ahead within such a short period of time? I know you've been told lies all your life, but with the number of lies you've told in the past year I would have thought you'd have realized it by now. Nearly everything you've learned about the history of Amity Park was a lie." Dad couldn't possibly be losing his mind because of the loss of mom, right?

"Dad, I think you need to start at the beginning." So it wasn't just me. Jazz was having problems wrapping her mind around this as well.

"There really is no quick and easy way to explain this. Amity Park spent five hundred years in the Ghost Zone. We only came back to the human realm a few months before Danny was born. We would have told you, but there have been several instances where those that tried to tell the truth simply disappeared off the face of the planet. I don't know what happened to them, no one does."

Dad spent the next hour trying to explain the real history of Amity Park. I barely understood anything he said, but Jazz seemed to have a perfect understanding of everything he said. How she managed not to get lost in the jumble of words, I will never know. It probably had something to do with her having the brains of the family.

Dad was finally catching up to the present time period when Toph cut in. "You four must attract trouble. There's another squad of people heading this way. My guess is it's more Fire benders with the luck we've been having lately."

"Someone care to remind me why we haven't left them to fend for themselves?" There was the sound of someone being smacked upside the head shortly after Zuko finished his comment. I turned to see Katara still held her hand up, ready to smack him again if she needed too.

That looked so much like what Sam would do to Tucker after one of his teasing remarks.

"It's not their fault Zuko! Since when does anyone without a connection to the Fire Nation come after us?" Zuko was forced to bite back a remark to Katara's latest comment as the first wave of benders appeared out of nowhere.

Well, I suppose it wasn't nowhere since Toph had sensed them, but still.

The benders were surrounding us this time, trying to gain a tactical advantage. "Get bored already?" I didn't even think about the remark, it just came out naturally.

The bender in front of me shot out a blast that I dodged with ease. I never thought I'd say this, but I kinda miss Skulker hunting me down on a daily basis; at least he gave me a real challenge.

That first blast must have served as a silent cue to open fire as a ring of fire was shot towards us, only to be stopped by a quickly summoned wall of earth. Whether that was Toph's doing or Sam's I don't think I'll ever know, but that doesn't really matter.

"General rule of thumb, Danny. Don't piss off the Fire benders." Yup. Sokka was certainly another Tucker with the comments he kept making.

"Eh. I pissed off a Ghost King once and lived. I doubt these guys can do much." Sam gave me a glare for that comment. I do believe it was meant to remind me that I barely made it out of that fight in one peace. If that fight had lasted just a minute longer, I may not have gotten home.

I didn't even realize my hand was reaching out to Sam until Jazz made a comment. "If you two are going to act like total lovebirds, can you wait until AFTER we're done fighting for our lives?" There it was again, someone calling us lovebirds. Why the hell do that do that? I know I've asked myself that question a million times, but I still don't have an answer.

I shook my head, now was not the time to be worrying about that.

My rings formed around my waist, bringing my ghost powers to the surface. "You guys stay here. I'll take care of these idiots." Hopefully having to focus on so many enemies at once would help to clear my head. I didn't have time for romance before and I have even less of it now that we had been stranded in a world that made little sense, if any at all.

* * *

_So sorry this took so long! For the first time in years, I actually got writer's block. o_O_

_Regardless, I got it done now! It's not my best work, but it's there! :D_

_I am going to try and get this updated at least once a week from here on out, hopefull I can keep up with that._

_Comments and feedback are welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	9. Rumors

_**Rumors**_

* * *

I yawned as I let yet another blast of fire phase right through me. "Your fire attacks aren't doing much, but you're doing a damn good job of boring me to death." Honestly, the only reason I hadn't kicked their asses yet was because I didn't want to hurt them too much if I didn't have to. To say I was quickly growing bored was an understatement.

"How about we do this a little more fairly?" I flew off to the side a little in order to get the fight away form my companions and landed on the ground. Once I realized how bad a shot these idiots were, I stopped with the intangibility all together, opting to just dodge any lucky shot they actually managed to get in.

They started to tire after a while, and I decided to finally actually start trying. Blast after blast left my hands, sometimes knocking as many as three back at once. None of the benders made a run for it though, and I wound up having to knock most of them out before the last four or five finally ran for it

I sighed as I watched the benders make a run for it, they hadn't provided much of a challenge and hadn't even let me indulge in a little misplaced aggression.

I heard the wall of earth retreat back into the ground only seconds before Sam had wrapped me up in a hug. A smile formed on my face as I held her close, not bothering to question her sudden acceptance of human contact. I didn't care whether it was meant to be friendly or something more, I just wanted to hold her close.

She pulled away after a second. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. Their most effective attack was boring me half to death." I smirked as she smacked me.

* * *

Where the hell was my messenger? It didn't take this damn long to confirm a rumor; I was going to have to teach him a lesson when he finally decided to show up. If the Avatar and my retarded brother had something as powerful as a ghost as a new addition to their pathetic "team," I needed to know before they royally fucked everything up for me.

The idiot finally walked in slowly; he was scared of me, good. "Well?" There was no need to address the peasant formally, he was damn lucky he was recognized as a human being in the first place.

"I have news of the rumor, princess." He was stuttering. Cute.

"Well, are you going to sit there and cower or tell me what the hell is going on?" I did not have time for this shit. I needed to know, and I needed to know now! These damn idiots could never get things done fast enough to be considered even remotely correct.

"The r-rumors are true, princess. The Avatar has added a new member to his team, a spiritual being...but…" He trailed off, this fucktard actually had the audacity to trail off after taking so damn long.

"I'm waiting. And I assure you, I'm not very patient."

"Y-yes, princess. It appears to be a spiritual being...but...there are talks floating about that he's not just a ghost. Some are even saying...th-that he's human as well."

"Get out of my presence."

"Yes, princess." He left, leaving me with a new puzzle. How could something be both human and a ghost?

* * *

_I will update more often. I will update more often. I will update more often..._

_I am so sorry this is so late and so short! I swear to you, I am working on my update issues (I will start spending my hour long lunches where everyone ignores me anyway to write this if I must!) and I promise, there will be at least one other update sometime this week. THERE WILL BE._

_Comments and feedback are as welcome as always!_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	10. Air

_**Air**_

* * *

"Did you catch...it?" The irritated princess couldn't quite convince her tongue to say "him" rather than "it." Oh well, she tried. The thing ought to feel honored she even tried to grant it such...humanity. Who knows, maybe if it did it's job, she might allow it just a hint of honor. Less than even her brother had, yes, but she somehow doubted the thing would care. It was so impossibly full of itself that even just calling it "him" would keep the damn thing in line.

"Yes, princess." The pitiful excuse for a soldier was sent away with a little less power assuring hostility than she would have liked, but one slip on her part was no issue when the key to obtaining the alleged ghost boy was just inside the green walls. If there was one thing she realized, it was that the ghost boy could win the entire war for her with ease

and let her claim more power than anyone on the whole damn planet could even dream of.

Azula still didn't know what the hell to make of the green thing surrounding the area. She'd found the generator within the various, unidentifiable items that had been retrieved from the ruins of some city or another. She didn't care for the name, it was something to do with a park, she only cared that it was far more advanced than it should have been. She was no expert in the advances the world made, but it didn't take one to realize that people who still relied upon their own two feet to get from point A to point B weren't yet capable of such technology. Had the city it come from still have been intact, she would have felt threatened that they had something like this much less whatever else they were bound to have had, but as it was this was found amongst ruins and thus, Azula found that she no longer gave a damn.

It was floating in thin air, something only the air benders had ever come even close to achieving. Azula wasn't quite sure what it could do yet, so she kept her distance, small sparks and flames dancing at her fingertips ready for use.

"I have a task for you." Her voice was colder than usual, more demanding. She did not want this thing thinking it had more power than it really did.

It responded almost instantly. "BEWARE!" She hoped it meant that in a joking fashion; if that was a show of the extent of its intelligence, she'd have to teach the soldier who caught it a very messy lesson and she was never one to enjoy getting her hands covered in blood.

* * *

Our campsite was tense that night, everyone was on edge after the last ambush. Defeating that group may have been child's play for me, but that was only because I had a ghostly advantage over the fire benders. The only thing that cut through the tension were the traniing sessions going on for each of us. Katara and Toph were drilling Aang while teaching Sam and I in our respective elements. Sokka and Zuko were trying to teach Jazz and dad some basic hand to hand combat.

I took a break from my own training to watch dad and Jazz. My sister seemed to be practically flying through the air when ever she jumped over blast of fire, often flipping and clearly having more grace in the air than on the ground. I'd noticed long ago that she tended to be that way, but now it was more pronounced than ever. My mind was still questioning why when my attention was quickly grabbed by what looked like an impossible to dodge blast.

I expected to have to cut in to keep her from getting burned, but just as I started to send a shield her way, her arms went up on instinct and the flames were pushed around her.

Zuko smirked, and I could have sworn I heard him mutter something along the lines of "knew it" before he addressed the rest of the group, mainly Aang.

"Guess what, Aang. You aren't the last air bender, now you can stop moping about it when you think no one's looking." He smirked for only a second before Katara swatted him upside the head.

"Quit being a jerk, Zuko!"

Aang stepped forward towards Jazz. "Are you sure, Zuko?" I don't think he really wanted to believe it was even possible for there to be another air bender. I knew the feeling, it was the same way I felt about Vlad until he started trying to kick my ass.

Key word: trying.

"Well, she sure as hell didn't deflect that attack with fire bending. Air is the only other thing that would have deflected it without any visible bending." Zuko replied as if it should have been a given.

"How do you know it wasn't fire bending?" Sam voiced my question for me. Whatever Jazz had done, I wouldn't have been able to tell if it was from air or fire on my own.

The fire bender shrugged. "Wrong form, the fire simply wouldn't have listened to her." I think all of us had confused looks on our faces as Aang cut in to explain.

"Each element has it's own fighting style. Fire and earth tend to come from more forceful movements as opposed to the flowing nature of most air and water attacks. Most people can't pick up on the differences unless they've been around all four elements for a while like we have." It made sense once I thought about it and as I remembered the differences between what Katara was teaching me and Toph was teaching Sam. The differences were clear as day to me, but that was probably due to years of watching ghosts and trying to determine each one's specific fighting style.

I saw Toph jab Aang in the side, "Looks like you've got yourself a student, Twinkle Toes."

* * *

_Could this be? An actual update less than two weeks from the last one? :P_

_I really am working on getting my updates in line, I swear!_

_Comments and feedback are as welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	11. Chapter 11

_...this has been so neglected, it's not even funny...I give you a mini-chapter to appease you for now..._

* * *

I had an air bender for a sister, who would have thought? Then again, after the first benders in our group, it really shouldn't have come as much of surprise between her flawless in-air maneuvers and her uncanny ability to clear her mind when it really mattered.

Thinking about how it obvious it should have been that Jazz was an air bender, followed by the clear signs of the element affiliation of Sam and I, made me wonder what element dad was. His personality traits seemed to blur the line between the elements and while it was possible he just wasn't a bender, something in my gut was telling me that wasn't the case. All I really had to go off was the fact that he was accident prone, and that didn't fit in with any element.

Unless you count the fact that most of his mishaps were explosive.

I didn't want to think about that detail and the things it may imply. I was going to stick to the fact that those details probably meant Dad was a Fire Bender, and ignore the rest. I didn't want to know whether or not his dormant bending had caused any of the lab explosions.

* * *

_I may regret this in school tomorrow, but I WILL get a real chapter of this out sometime tonight. I WILL DO IT._

* * *

_Invisible One_


	12. Chapter 12

We moved seemingly non-stop; even while resting, we were either sleeping, eating, or training. I still didn't have a clue what the hell these guys were up against, but it had yet to show signs of being anything my team and I couldn't face. Even dad was doing better now that he had some proper training. Even though I didn't know what it was and had a feeling it wasn't any worse than what I had faced before, it was almost welcome in that the apparent danger was something I was used to dealing with on a daily basis.

It wasn't until roughly three weeks after the explosion that uprooted all of us that I first caught word of what we were up against. Even I had a hard time believing the form in which this information came to me.

We were set to leave within the next ten minutes or so when my ghost sense went off for the first time in days. I didn't even bother changing forms seeing as I had seemed to develop a completely different sense for the arrival of the idiot who named himself The Box Ghost. I swear that guy was searching for the absolute worst name he could find when he came up with that.

"What is it, Danny?" Jazz had appeared at my side, but I didn't get a chance to answer her question as Sam appeared as well.

"Is the idiot back again?" We rarely actually called Box Ghost by his name; in my opinion, we were doing him a favor by calling him "the idiot."

As if on cue, the Box Ghost finally came into my line of sight. "BEWARE! FOR I AM THE BOX GHOST WHO IS NOW SUPPORTED BY THE GREAT PRINCESS AZULA!" The fact that a princess would "support" the Box Ghost only goes to show how little the people of this world knew of ghosts.

"Danny, get away! If he's with Azula, he's gotta be dangerous!" Sokka didn't have a clue what he was talking about. I knew nearly every ghost like the back of my hand, and the Box Ghost was almost never a real threat.

"Is it possible that she's just a bigger idiot than old Boxy here?" I said that just after firing off the single shot the cause Box Ghost to make a run for it. "The most damage he's ever done was on accident. He's one of the few ghosts your honestly just better off laughing at than anything."

"THE BOX GHOST IS NO IDIOT!" I rolled my eyes, but the comment seemed to slightly worry Team Avatar.

"You do realize Azula is going to hear that you called her an idiot right?" Sokka started.

"And that this development will only piss her off more, right?" Aang finished.

I just shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe she'll give me a real challenge, it's been a while since I've had one of those." Sam's glare nearly scared me.

"The last few times you've had a "real challenge" you've very nearly gotten yourself killed!" Was she right? Yes. Was I going to just let her have her point? Nope.

"I was still figuring my powers out with the King and Dan knew everything about me and then some! Azula knows nothing about me and I doubt she's ever fought any ghost, much less someone with my power."

Sam smacked me upside the head. "Don't get cocky. We both know I could kick your ass if I really wanted to." I knew she was probably right - after years of training with me, she knew just about every trick I had. Add to that her new found bending and the fact that ectoranium could very easily be under her control, and there was no doubt she could take me in a fight if she had a reason to. "Also, did it even occur to you that if this princess had the sense to send a ghost after you that she probably knows about your powers?" Once more, I had to admit she was right.

"Fine, you got me. I need to be more careful, yadda yadda yadda. You done yet?"

It was Jazz that smacked me this time. "You aren't taking her seriously, Danny. We have no idea what we're up against. Sure, you know how to fight, but how are you going to win if you're constantly relying on your intangibility to keep out of trouble? Someone is eventually going to figure out how to counteract that."

I was halfway surprised to see Katara step forward. "Actually, I think I've already found a way around that. Change forms, Danny." I didn't question her, I had a feeling resistance would only piss all three of the girls off more, and I really didn't feel like facing that.

I saw Katara focus on something with her bending, but I couldn't tell what until my arm moved of it's own accord. I knew it was her doing, especially after I suddenly found myself being smacked upside the head with my own hand. It stopped after only a minute, but I could tell it had taken it's tool on Katara.

She spoke after a few moments of regaining her breath. "Blood bending works on ectoplasm too. I hate to use it, but the Fire Nation won't hesitate. Your own strength will be used against you if they find a blood bender to work for them. Intangibility can't protect you from yourself nearly as well as it can save you from others." She paused. "I will never use it in battle, but you needed to be shown that you aren't invincible to the elements. The right bender is just as dangerous to you as it is to the rest of us."

"In short, don't get so damn cocky and actually listen to us!" Sam wasn't going to let me live this down.

* * *

_...I said I'd get this up last night...I lied...but considering my current record as far as gettin gthis updated, waiting a day is nothing compared to what I've done to you before..._

_Comments and feedback are as welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	13. Chapter 13

Idiots! I'm surrounded by idiots! The Box Ghost? How the hell had any of them thought that he would do any damage? Had I heard his name before, I never tried using him. And now, my damn guards had let this idiot into my presence!

"Speak. And make it quick." God only knows what the hell he was wearing. I'm sure it passed as being high class where ever the hell he came from, but to me it was just ridiculous. It was black and looked as if it would make any form of movement difficult, much less any attempts at fighting.

"Vlad Masters, pleased to make your acquaintance." He held out a hand that I simply ignored. Even the dumbest of the dumb knew a princess doesn't just shake hands with anyone. Fucking retard. He put his hand back down by his side after a moment and opened his mouth to speak once more. "You have no idea who I am, but that scarcely matters. I have something you want."

"Doubtful." My stone hard glare was unwavering, though I had to admit he was a master at keeping his composure together.

"I have what you need to get the ghost kid out of your way. With any luck, he could probably take out the Avatar as well." That had my attention. I only needed the ghost kid out of my way, but if he really could take out the Avatar as well...well, I suppose it couldn't be any worse than enlisting the Box Ghost for help.

"What is it?" My glare almost gave way to something resembling joy, but I kept it firm. I would not allow him to think he had more control over this situation than he really did. The idiot in front of me pulled out a metal container. "What the hell do you expect that thing to do?"

He smirked; the idiot actually had the audacity to smirk in my presence! "It's not what, but rather who is in it."

"Go on." He had damn well better make listening to his nonsense worth my time.

* * *

The entirety of the Ghost Zone was in an uproar, at all points in time from now until the infinite future. Why? Because Clockwork was worried, and Clockwork never worried over anything.

No one knew the exact reason why, but a few had heard something about a missing thermos.

* * *

Blast after blast came towards us, we were outnumbered by more than usual - there were enough Fire Benders here that Team Avatar actually had to intervene. We'd have already been dead without them. My powers were starting to drain my energy, but changing back to my human form to conserve energy would completely screw us over. As it was, we were only barely beginning to gain the upper hand, if I changed back now, we would be dead in minutes.

I was losing focus, that much was evident when a blast of fire came so close to me that it would have cooked me alive had Zuko not redirected it. At least, I was pretty sure it was Zuko. I guess it could have been Aang too, but he seemed too busy to have caught that.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally overcame the oncoming threat. Just in time too as my powers finally gave out altogether mere seconds after the final bender made a run for it. It would take me days to get back up to full strength, but I knew I wasn't going to have that kind of time any time soon. It was likely I wouldn't be at full strength whenever we finally met the stronger enemies Team Avatar had to face; these Fire Benders couldn't be the extent of their enemies.

I was caught off guard when I saw another fire blast headed for Jazz. At first, I thought we had more company, then I saw Zuko's stance and realized he was the one who fired it off. I wondered why for the split second before I saw Jazz do something I wasn't expecting.

I had figured she'd just force it to go around her using her air bending, but instead of going around her, it was redirected back towards Zuko. That wasn't something an Air Bender should have been able to do, but the look on her face told me without a hint of a doubt that it was Jazz who did that, not someone else.

The others saw her feat as well.

"That's not possible." You knew it was something out of the ordinary when even Aang didn't have a clue as to what the hell was going on. "How did you do that?" He asked the question we all wanted to know.

"I controlled the air around it to force it in a new direction." We all gave her blank stares. "What? It's just a simple matter of understanding how the elements relate to each other. If a blood bender can force another bender to use their own bending, then why can't an air bender use the air around an attack to redirect it?"

"Aang, is that even possible?" Katara looked worried...and...was that a hint of suspicion?

Aang was quiet for a few moments. "I heard legends about it before I left home, but it was a skill well beyond rare. Most of the masters barely acknowledged its existence. It's hard to believe she figured it out on her own."

"This is Jazz we're talking about here. She figures one whole hell of a lot out on her own," I said, remembering that I hadn't told her my secret; she'd just figured it out on her own.

"Well, I guess the Air Benders were bound to have some super rare skill. If water has blood bending, fire has lightning, and earth has metal bending, then there was bound to be something." I barely recognized Sokka's words as my mind worked out something of its own.

If Jazz could use the air around an attack to redirect it, then shouldn't I be able to do the same thing with ecto energy? It wouldn't be my own energy, but if you look at ecto energy as a form of bending, then it should be the same concept, right? Only one way to find out.

"Dad, the ghost guns fire ecto energy, right?"

"Yeah, why son?"

"I want to try something. Can you fire off a shot? Not at me, just somewhere nearby." He nodded before pulling out a gun from god only knows where and firing a single shot off towards the nearby trees. I focused on it, trying to connect to the energy as it sliced through the air. I finally found it when it was barely an inch from the tree thirty feet from where the shot had originated and managed to stop the blast midair. It took some time, but I managed to turn it towards another tree. The feat had tired me out more, but that wasn't the important bit. The important part was that I had managed it and, with practice, it could easily become a new trick up my sleeve.

* * *

_A new chapter? Without having to wait months on end? It's a miracle... :P_

_Comments and feedback are as welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	14. Chapter 14

"Well? Are you going to show me what's inside that thing or not?" He had gone on and on about what the contents of that thermos thing could accomplish, yet the idiot had yet to actually show me what he had. The whole problem with the damn ghost boy was getting on my nerves and I wasn't in the mood to be toyed with.

"I would, but that would get us both killed at the moment." For the millionth time, I glared at the idiot.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe you have something worth my time in that thing if you can't show it to me?" Idiot. This guy was a fucking idiot. I was about ready to electrocute his sorry ass.

"No, I really don't, but do you honestly have a better option?" That was the last straw. Flames danced around my finger tips for only a split second before they were fired off at this idiot.

He was unfazed as he put up some sort of pink shield around him. What the hell? Only the ghost kid had ever been known to pull a stunt like that and I only found out about that hours ago.

I was on my feet in an instant. "Who and what the hell are you?"

The idiot chuckled. "Well, since you asked oh so nicely, girl." Another shot was fired at his head, but he moved out of the way with inhuman speeds. Damn.

He scoffed. "You'll learn not to do that soon enough."

"And you'll learn not to insult the Fire Nation princess sooner."

He smirked. It was by pure luck alone that I hadn't blown up on him yet. Something about him rubbed a nerve the wrong way, no matter what words came out of his mouth. "I introduced myself as Vlad Masters, but I suppose that was only half the truth." Black rings formed around his waist and moved to opposite poles of his body, leaving a ghostly figure in his place. This was a very interesting development.

"Vlad Plasmius is my chosen name, though for you, I'll let either do. As for what I am? A being far superior to any mortal, a half-ghost hybrid."

"A hybrid? Just like the ghost boy?" Real threatening and powerful, Azula. Don't let your guard down.

"Yes. The ghost brat, has been a pain in my neck for a while now and I would be more than willing to form a deal with you to get rid of him." His red eyes made it difficult to read him for any real motives, not something I liked.

I smirked anyway. "And how do you suggest we take him out?" I was willing to listen to this plan, but I by no means was willing to trust him. Not yet.

"Daniel's powers are untrained and he's inexperienced. Oh sure, he can keep them under control most of the time, but he tires rather quickly because he's yet to learn how to maximize his stamina. Your job would be to send in several of your benders to tire him out. Then," he held out the...thermos thing, "we release this on him."

"You still haven't told me what's supposedly in that thing." I forced agitation into my voice, though it was by no means fully real. He had me hooked. Damn it, I needed to get my head clear or I'd end up making a deal without fully thinking through the consequences.

"This, Princess," I smirked, he'd finally gotten that down at least. "is the one thing Daniel has fought tooth and nail to never see again." I allowed him to come closer as he explained just what was contained in the thermos.

An evil little grin appeared on my face as he went through his explanation. Oh, this was going to be good.

* * *

_Alright, I am finally going to get this on an update schedule. No more neglected updates! This will be updated every other week somewhere in the Tuesday/Wednesday time frame._

_Comments and feedback are as welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	15. Chapter 15

It was quiet, too quiet. Maybe I'm known for being overly suspicious of seemingly normal things, but I still say it was way too quiet. A full day, we had gone a full day without an attack of any kind. Now, before we were introduced to all the weird crap that came along with our group of refugees, this wouldn't have been anything to be worried about, but now? Now it didn't seem right. If it wasn't the Fire Benders we were used to, then Danny had some screwed up enemy after him, and indirectly after us.

And don't even get me started on all the weirdness that Danny, his dad, his "not-my-girlfriend!" Sam, and Jazz had brought along with them. Just as I got used to traveling with the Avatar, who half the world is hell bent on killing, the once evil Prince Zuko, a blind pain in my ass, and the idea that Aang has a thing for my sister, those four add something new to the mix. Now, I have to figure out how the hell we're supposed to deal with a half-ghost and his enemies! Like we needed more people trying to kill us!

What was I going on about before I started ranting? Oh, yeah. It was too quiet. Not a single attempt on our lives in more than a day, and I didn't like it. This was a break in pattern, meaning the enemy was changing strategies, meaning we needed to be on our toes. All of us needed to be on our toes, or at least training the newbies, but what were we doing? Sitting on our asses doing nothing.

All of us, even me.

The guy who was ranting about us doing nothing, was also doing nothing.

Way to get the team up and working, Sokka. Sit on your ass just like them, that'll show them.

There was a crash off in the distance, followed by a weakly mumbled "five more minutes, mom" from Danny. Speaking of which, why was he still sleeping? Sure, none of us were really doing much of anything, but he was still sleeping. The sun rose ages ago and he was still sleeping! How could anyone sleep that long? I'd grown used to the newcomers sleeping a little longer than the rest of us, but even the princess of darkness herself had yet to sleep past midday.

I smirked as an idea came to me. Oh, that would be funny, and maybe it'd teach him not to sleep so freaking long.

I grabbed an empty water skin and filled it in the nearby pond/lake thing, then quietly moved over to stand over Danny's sleeping form. Sam saw me and tried to tell me not to do it, but I don't think she realized how late it was for him to still be sleeping. They had said something about having something called a clock to tell them the time and weren't used to relying on the sun for time.

The water skin tilted, and I smirked in the split second before it's contents hit Danny's head.

The boy shot up in an instant...and blasted me back in the process.

What the hell? He just shot me with one of his ecto blast thingies! And he did it before he even opened his eyes!

"Damn Box Ghost…" I saw Danny rolling over, going back to sleep after turning himself intangible for a moment to rid himself of the water. Box Ghost? I wasn't a ghost! And I most certainly was not a Box Ghost!

I turned as I heard snickering from behind me and Sam approached me. "I tried to warn you. He automatically shoots at anything trying to wake him up in a less than conventional way. If it's not an alarm or someone trying to shake him awake, he shoots since it usually means there's a ghost trying to kill him again."

"If he thought I was trying to kill him, then why the hell did he go back to sleep?!" Seriously! You usually don't go back to sleep if you think someone or something is trying to kill you!

"You didn't pull a weapon or shoot ecto blast at him, so he assumed you were just the Box Ghost who would be long gone by now." I saw an evil little smirk cross her face before she spoke again. "Now, if you wanna do something funny… Hey Jazz! We're gonna wake Danny up."

Jazz ran over to us. "What are you planning?" She saw the evil look on Sam's face and I could tell she was trying to figure out how this would end.

"I was gonna throw him up in the air and watch him try to catch himself." Jazz shook her head and laughed.

"And you need me for that, why?"

"So you can catch him if he's too clueless to realize he isn't dreaming when he starts falling through the air from fifty feet or so."

"You do realize he'd kill anyone else for pulling that, right?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, but I have way too much black mail for him to turn against me." I could only imagine what Sam knew that she wasn't supposed to. I would have to pull that out of her later on… "Ready?" Jazz nodded and Sam got into position.

She forced the rock under him into the air and made it drop as soon as physics sent the ghost boy flying. I heard a distinct "What the hell?!" as Danny was forced from his slumber. I cracked up watching him fumbling to get himself under control as he started falling toward the ground. I saw his rings form after a few seconds of his wide eyed fumbling and his fall slowed as he changed it to the controlled descent of flight.

Everyone was laughing as Danny finally touched down, sending a glare Sam's way. Said girl looked to me. "Told you it'd be funny, and I didn't even have to get my ass blasted to do it."

* * *

_Have some filler...I promise there will be actual important stuff in the next chapter!_

_Comments and feedback are as welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	16. Chapter 16

The rumbles that had been in the distance after my rude awakening were getting closer and closer. I didn't know what to make of it, but I somehow doubted it was just a storm catching up to us. Well, it wouldn't be a normal rain storm at least; a full blown shit-storm was still a real possibility. Sokka had told us all about how it was too quiet, and while I did think he was probably overdoing it just a little with the paranoia, I couldn't deny that this was something out of the ordinary. Maybe the ghosts just weren't as active out in the open, but maybe Sokka was onto something. There really was no way of knowing with the number of twists and turns life loves to throw at me.

I tried to just ignore, I really did, but something was screeching at me that I really ought to recognize this situation. Amity Park had been the Earthly home of most ghosts, but that was gone now so why weren't they running around out here in more rural areas? Sure, the more spread population would make it more difficult for them to get their fear kicks, but with nowhere else to feed there would have to be at least a few out here. I know there are cities outside of where amity Park used to stand, but there is no way every ghost had gotten to them yet. I know them too well and at least old Boxy and Klemper should still be running around clueless, looking for a new place to haunt, not to mention the fact that Skulker hadn't made any attempts on my life lately.

Where were the ghosts? I remembered them disappearing from Amity Park once or twice, but why would they now? Pariah Dark was long gone, and no matter how devastating the explosion in Amity had been, it wouldn't have freed him again. I should be done fighting that idiot, twice was enough and I didn't care to come that close to death for a third time. The only other time had been...

No. No, that could not be it. Dan was tightly locked in a thermos being watched by the Master of All Time himself. He couldn't get out, could he?

But, I had managed to break free of that damn thermos a few times when Jazz couldn't free me herself. Dan had blocked out most memories of his family, but that doesn't mean he couldn't figure out how to escape on his own. Clockwork should be able to freeze him if he did get loose, but Dan did exist outside of time now. Would that render Clockwork's control of time useless? I hope not, I only won by sheer luck the first time and I still would have lost everything if Clockwork hadn't intervened.

Look at that, I thought bitterly. Two explosions that I couldn't stop, and because of my failure the town, mom, and Tucker were all on borrowed time and it had caught up to them in the end. I only had a few people left now.

And with my luck, that damned frootloop is probably running around uncontrolled to. God only knows what he could manage with how weak this world is. Maybe they could win if they had all the elements fighting together, but since the Air Nomads are pretty much gone that plan's been shot out of the sky. Even with the training of the Avatar himself, Jazz would never be able to learn fast enough to make a difference when it mattered. If she had a year or two, we'd be fine, but I know Vlad. If he's out there, we don't have a year or two to prepare, and if he's gotten ahold of Dan all will be lost before we even start.

"You okay, Danny?" Sam always could tell when I was trying to keep things bottled up. Just because she knew doesn't mean I always told her, but she had a way of knowing. She had a way of seeing through the façade, no matter how well I tried to hide it.

"No." There was no point in trying to hide that from her, but she still didn't know I'd lost her and everyone else when Dan came around. She didn't know she was walking around on borrowed time and I didn't plan on telling her.

She waited for me to continue for a moment, then sighed. "You aren't going to tell me what's wrong, are you?" I shook my head, not really trusting myself to speak. I was on the verge of just spilling as it was, I didn't need to give my mouth a chance to speak without consulting my mind first. "You'll have to start trusting me at some point."

"I do trust you." There I went, letting my mouth open without thinking first.

"No, you don't. You may think you do, but you don't. You don't trust that I won't break when you open up, you haven't trusted me since Dan came around." Fuck. She was already getting close. Just stay quiet, Danny. Maybe she'll let it rest. "It is something about Dan, isn't it?" I stayed silent, not even looking her in the eyes anymore. "Danny, what really happened? Jazz and I both know you never told anyone the whole truth."

"There's a reason I never told you." I'm losing control, but does it really matter? If Jazz knows I omitted parts of the story, the pair of them could figure it out on their own.

"I won't break on you, Danny." I risked looking into her eyes and saw she was tearing up just from knowing that whatever it was had to be huge if I was afraid of what it would do to her.

Fuck it, I can't keep this to myself anymore. This is just too big. "I just don't want to lose you, okay? I did it once, and it's not fun."

"Danny, I'm still here. I haven't left you; you haven't lost me." She was confused, she didn't realize what I meant.

"You, Jazz, and Dad are only still here because Clockwork intervened and saved your asses when I failed! He saved Tucker and mom too, but their borrowed time finally caught up to them." The confusion in her eyes only grew, but it's not her fault she doesn't understand yet. I'm the one who never told her. "When I fought Dan for the last time, I couldn't stop the Nasty Burger explosion. It burned sky high, and all of you did too. I'd thought I'd won, then I realized Dan's only goal had been to keep me busy until I lost everything. I got him into a thermos, then my powers gave out." I hung my head, fighting back the emotions I though had been banished by now. "I couldn't get to you in time. I thought all of you were dead, and while it was only a few seconds before Clockwork showed me he'd saved you, it felt like I'd spent a lifetime in hell.

"I lost you once, Sam. I lost all of you once, and I refuse to do it again."

Sam didn't speak, she only forced me into a hug even though she "wasn't a hug person." I wrapped my arms around her, wishing I didn't have to tell her of her own death. I couldn't deny the fact that I felt better though. Maybe they were right, maybe I did keep too much bottled up inside, but it was only to protect them.

I don't want to hurt them. Ever.

* * *

_Comments and feedback are as welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	17. Chapter 17

We spent the rest of the day in relative silence, but I noticed Sam staying closer to me than usual, as if she were scared to leave me alone after what I'd told her. We spent that day flying through the air with her in my arms, so maybe that's why it seemed like she was staying closer than usual, but even on the ground she was always hovering around me. Even Sokka's teasing didn't cause her to move away more than a few feet.

Then, that night she surprised me by laying her head on my chest and curling up next to me when it was time for bed. This earned yet another round of cat calls from Sokka, but I didn't really care. I just wanted to know why; I just wanted to know if I had a chance with her, even after all the shit we've been through. She was still laying on me when I woke up the next morning, and I couldn't help but smile at her.

"One day you'll figure it out, Clueless One," Jazz said from the side.

I looked at her, still unable to figure out why everyone always called me Clueless. "I still don't get what you mean by that."

She smirked. "It means you're missing the obvious."

Sam grumbled as we woke her up. "Leave me alone, mother." I chuckled at her, brushing hair out of her face as she slowly realized she would not be getting back to sleep.

"Good morning," I said. I couldn't shake the feeling that this was a bit more than just friendly interaction.

I could have sworn I saw just the smallest tint of red appear on her cheeks, but I could have just been seeing things. "Morning."

"Seriously, cut the lovey dovey crap. I can't even see you and I'm about to puke from it!" I turned away from Sam at Toph's words, my cheeks burning slightly. God, I've got to get these emotions back under control.

"We aren't lovebirds," I heard Sam mutter under her breath.

"Yeah, and I'm an air bender," Toph retorted.

"Don't we have somewhere we're supposed to be heading?" I said, desperately trying to get them off the topic of embarrassing us.

"That depends, but I need to get it figured out now," Sokka said. "We can either wait here for Azula and kick her ass, or we can go to her and kick her ass."

I zoned out a bit as they discussed what to do; honestly I couldn't care less which option they went with. I was fine with either one. Despite the fact that I knew I'd be better off bottling my emotions up again, I couldn't help but slip off into the land of daydreams. Was there really a chance that I could be with Sam in the end? Or would I just make our friendship awkward if I told her the truth about how I feel.

A scarily familiar sound off in the distance dragged me out of my thoughts. "What was that?"

"What was what? I didn't hear anything," Aang said.

"Maybe it was too far out for you to hear it." I searched my mind, trying to figure out where I knew that sound from. When I heard it again, my eyes widened in understanding.

"No," I whispered when I was finally able to place it. It couldn't be. That would mean...

"Danny, what is it?" Sam had appeared by my side once more.

"I...I think I'm hearing the Ghostly Wail." I couldn't believe it. If that were the case, then that would mean...he had gotten loose, and there's only one person crazy enough to do that. "That damned frootloop let HIM out."

"Danny, are you sure? Clockwork had him locked up pretty tight." Jazz was right about Clockwork, but that didn't mean it was impossible for Vlad to have gotten him out. I tried to remember anything that might just prove me wrong, but the Ghostly Wail was a specialty power, one only I was known to have.

"I'm sure, Jazz." I looked away before speaking again, knowing Sam and Jazz weren't going to let me do and everyone else would fight tooth and nail to stop me, but I didn't have a choice. "I need to take care of this on my own."

"What? No!" Sam shouted almost instantly, grabbing back the attention of the others who had gone back to discussing their options.

"I have to, Sam! You know what happened last time you guys tried to get involved! I'm not losing anyone again! Especially not now! I'll take care of it on my own, and then I'll be back to help you deal with Azula."

Jazz smacked me upside the head. "Vlad isn't stupid enough to be working alone, Danny. He's probably already gotten Azula on board with him. You aren't going alone."

"Would one of you please tell the rest of us what the hell you're talking about?" Zuko's arms were crossed and he sported a rather impressive glare, sparks already dancing around his fingertips as he tried to mildly control his anger.

"Vlad let Dan out," I said, seething and barely controlling my anger.

"Who is Dan, and what does Vladdy have to do with any of this?" Oh, right. Dad still doesn't know about Vlad.

"Dad, Vlad isn't the man you think he is." I took a deep breath, knowing Vlad would be pissed as soon as he found out I told his little secret to dad. "He's like me, Dad. Vlad...he's the Wisconsin Ghost. He's Plasmius."

I watched Dad's mind working as he slowly put together what this meant. I wondered whether he'd believe it or not. "He's tried to kill you, hasn't he?"

While that wasn't the reaction I was expecting him to immediately have, I nodded in affirmation. "And if he's let Dan out, he's still trying."

"You still haven't answered the main question. Who is Dan?" Shut up, Zuko! I'm working on it!

"He's me. Or, rather, he could be if I let it happen." My voice shook, this still wasn't a topic I was comfortable talking about. "A few months ago, there was a split in the timeline: I could either save my family or lose everyone. Dan is what I would have become in ten years if I'd lost everyone; Dan is the road I almost went down." I took a deep breath, trying to keep my emotions in check. It doesn't matter who you are or how many ghosts you face, talking about an event in which you nearly lost everyone is hard. "He lost his mind and strayed from his morals. In his future, he'd wiped out all civilization."

"Okay, so it doesn't sound like he'd be too hard to beat. I mean, you know everything about him, right?" They call me clueless, but Sokka's worse than I supposedly am on some things.

Katara seemed to get the picture though. "It's the opposite though, isn't it? He knows everything about you, but he also has ten years of experience on you. He's the ultimate enemy."

I nodded, seeing the looks on the other's faces and knowing where this was going. "And you were planning on facing him alone? Just stupid can you get, dunce?" Toph, that was definitely Toph giving me shit first.

* * *

_So...I really did mean to get this up last night...but well...that didn't happen._

_I have a summer update schedule for all of my stories posted on my profile and I will be attempting to stick to it from this point on._

_Comments and feedback are as welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


	18. Chapter 18

It was hard to wrap my mind around everything that's gone on in my son's life; ghost powers, a dark alternate future, Vlad trying to kill him. It was too much for me to handle just hearing about it and he's done it on his own as a fourteen year-old kid? Just how blind have I been? How blind were both Maddie and I?

And Vlad. I can't believe that man. I've taken his side more times than I can count and he repays me with attempts on my son's life? He let the money go to his head; there's proof that I wasn't just blabbering when I told him moving to the rich district of town would slowly corrupt him.

Looking around, I couldn't help but realize how upside down all of this was. I was the only adult here and also the only one who didn't have a hold over situation. These were a bunch of kids, two of which my own, and world literally rested on their shoulders.

And all that time, we thought Danny was just being lazy and rebellious.

I felt useless. I was supposed to be the adult, the one in charge, and yet I could barely keep up with the orders these kids gave me. Even Zuko, who I thought to be the oldest, couldn't have hit eighteen yet. A bunch of kids who had to save to world.

All of them were too young to have this burden on them.

It frustrated me that I couldn't be the support my kids or any of these guys needed, but I had to sit back and let them do what they knew; it was clear I did little more than slow them down on most things. I wish Mads were here, she'd know what to do, how to help them.

* * *

It had been a long day, that was something all of them could agree on, but it was just the beginning of the journey.

As the two sides of this fight started to converge, a battle field was being marked. Those that stood in the way of the good, found a disappointing lack of help. Those that stood in the way of the bad found destruction and ruin if they were lucky.

Azula couldn't decide whether to be impressed or disgusted by Dan's lack of respect or caring for those who got in his way; more than one woman had fallen prey to the pent up frustrations being trapped in a thermos had caused. One couldn't exactly relieve themselves when trapped in a gaseous form.

Avatar Aang didn't know how to take the fact that he was now up against an unforeseen enemy; no number of masters could have trained him for the possibility of fighting Azula, the Firelord, and Dan all at once. He knew Danny and the members of both their teams would be of some help, but there was a sense of unease in everyone knowing that any one of those three enemies on their own was a major threat.

They always knew the final battle would be a hard one, but this seemed damn near impossible.

* * *

_I FEEL LIKE A TERRIBLE PERSON. I haven't actually gotten an update out for this in forever. :O FORGIVE ME!_

_Comments and feedback are as welcome as always! :D_

* * *

_Invisible One_


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